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Two-year degree cohort still below 2002-03 levels

There are still fewer undergraduates taking two-year degrees than there were nine years ago, despite the government’s enthusiasm for shorter courses as a way to cut costs.

The number of undergraduates taking two-year degrees stood at 7,315 in 2011-12, down from 7,820 in 2002-03.

This means that in 2011-12, just 0.6 per cent of UK undergraduates were taking such courses.

The figures were disclosed by David Willetts, the universities and science minister, in a written parliamentary answer on 5 September.

John Denham, Labour MP for Southampton, Itchen and former secretary of state for innovation, universities and skills, had asked Mr Willetts to state the numbers on two-, three- and four-year courses over the past 10 years.

As the figures are drawn from Higher Education Statistics Agency data, they cover only institutions that are members of Hesa – virtually all of them publicly funded institutions.

Behind the bleak overall picture, there is a glimpse of a positive trend. Since declining to 5,725 in 2007-08, the number of students on two-year degrees rose by 28 per cent to 7,315 in 2011-12. That rate of increase outstripped the 21 per cent rise in the number taking three-year degrees over the same period.

Degree courses at the University of Buckingham, a private institution whose figures are counted in the Hesa data, run for two years.

The report, written by Ella Ritchie, at that time pro vice-chancellor for teaching and learning at Newcastle, suggested that two-year degrees could make students “less employable” by diminishing “the perceived value of a Newcastle degree”.

She added: “There is a danger that it could disadvantage UK graduates in the global market. Some multinational employers are already favouring German and French graduates to UK ones because of their level of development.”